Disclaimer: Chuck Norris, Aaron Norris, CBS and others own the characters of "Walker Texas Ranger". Any new characters and story lines that come into play are of my own creation and no copyright infringement is intended. This is a fan fiction intended for entertainment purposes only and I am not making any money from it.

Chapter 16: Vice

Lucy could sense the anger and hatred from her partner as she sat next to him in the interrogation room. She was thankful that the direction of the negative energy wasn't towards her, but at the man sitting across from them.

Her gaze went to the face of the man that they had brought in fifteen minutes ago. His black hair, dark eyes and lean, muscular body made him attractive, but his presence sent off bad-boy vibes, which would draw women to him like bugs to a bug zapper. Her eyes flickered to the tattoo on Jason Vice's left arm of a rabid wolf attacking a mermaid.

He flexed his left arm and smiled at her when she looked at him. Her lips tightened and her eyes narrowed.

"How do you know Nicholas Kingly?" Darryl asked, causing the man to look from her to her partner.

Vice leaned back in his chair and he tried to put his hands behind his head, but his hands were in handcuffs. He settled his hands in his lap instead but didn't allow the action to deter him. "I don't know anyone by that name."

She saw her partner's face starting to turn red. "All right. Let us try it this way," he replied, his body taut and his eyes never leaving the other man's face. "You assaulted a Texas Ranger."

"Don't try that with me, man. He came at me. I was merely defending myself."

She smiled as she locked eyes with him. "Mr. Vice, all we want is some information. It's that simple."

She didn't waver and she knew that if Vice wasn't going to give them any information, she knew her partner was going to do or say something that would get Vice to give them information.

Vice looked from her back to Darryl. She saw something flicker in the man's eyes and she noticed him starting to become wary. She hoped that this was a sign that he would give them what they needed.

"He wanted me to connect him to a group of people that had a specific skill set."

She sensed that her partner wanted her to continue questioning. "Ok. What kind of skills?"

"I think you already found that out, Detective," he retorted. "I guess they never anticipated your skills."

"Where can we find him?" Darryl asked.

Lucy noted the intense threat in her partner's voice. She felt her right eyebrow rise in surprise.

Vice tried to hide the widening of his eyes by settling back in his chair, trying to act nonchalant. "What do I get in return?"

"You don't get anything in return," Darryl replied. "I don't have to remind you why you won't be getting anything from me."

She looked from Vice to her partner but she couldn't get a read on the situation.

The man paused for a moment before he answered. "641 Cumberland Road. That's where you'll find him."

Darryl leaned forward, and with a low voice said to Vice, "you had better not be lying."

Vice raised his hands, as best as he could anyway.

The dark-haired detective rose from his chair and left the room. Lucy rushed after him and she grabbed his arm, causing him to turn towards her. "What was that about?" She whispered.

He shook his head. "Not now, Lucy. Not now."

As he freed his arm and walked away, she knew that whatever happened between Vice and her partner had been bad. She couldn't ask her partner about it, she would only find out when he was ready to tell her. Besides, he wasn't the only one with a secret or two.

Lucy stood in the living room that held a weird, brown and orange couch that she wasn't going to touch especially since it had numerous stains on it. There was an old, large, box TV with a recliner directly across from it. She wondered if the recliner would shine oddly when the TV was on the silvery, taped up chair.

She heard footsteps to her right and saw her partner standing in the doorway. He blocked the view of part of the refrigerator but she could clearly see faded and torn linoleum counter top.

"He's not here," he stated, as his eyes swept over the room.

"He probably knew that we were coming," Gage remarked coming down the stairs with Sydney right behind him. He looked at Darryl and then looked at Lucy with a raised eyebrow, the one that was above a black and blue eye, courtesy of Jason Vice. She responded by a gently shake of her head, knowing that the Ranger had noticed Darryl's odd look in his eyes.

A ring broke the silence and the feeling of failure in the room. Sydney answered her cell, stopping the ring tone.

Lucy watched the dark-haired Ranger and could tell by the way a frown deepened on the other woman's face, that the information that Sydney was receiving wasn't good.

"Kurt Kingly is dead," Sydney said after she put her cell back into her pocket.

"What?" Gage exclaimed.

Lucy looked at each of them in turn, wondering at the thoughts going through her friend's minds, but she knew what they were all thinking.

"We need a team in here to sweep this place," Darryl said, breaking the silence that had taken over the room for the past five minutes. "There might be something here."

"With our luck. I'm going to guess that we won't find a darn thing," Gage snorted.

Lucy agreed with Gage wholeheartedly. Every time they had a lead, something else threw them off like a wet dog shaking off water. She could tell that it was taking a toll on her friends and on herself. The only thing they could do was to keep working the case the best they could.

Lucy had sat down in an extra chair positioned in front of Gage's desk. She had a full cup of coffee in her hands that had now become cold. Her eyes had never left Sydney, who had been talking for the past half an hour.

"So, that's what happened while you two were occupied elsewhere," Sydney finished, her eyes on Walker and Trivette.

Walker nodded his head and finished the remaining coffee in his cup. "It appears that Kurt was killed by someone he trusted."

"His son killed him," Trivette remarked. "It won't be long before Connie matches the bullets to the other murder."

"Why did he kill him?" Gage asked.

Lucy turned her head to look at the sandy-haired Ranger. "He was going to turn in his son."

"Let's set a trap for him," Sydney suggested.

"How do you want to do that?" Gage asked his partner in which she shrugged her shoulders and then bit her lip in reply.

"He's selling personal information about people," Darryl said as he set his cup of coffee down and went to the center of the group, all eyes on him. "The information stolen from his father's clients would be a treasure trove of people for identity theft as well as people trying to enter the country illegally."

Trivette nodded his head. "We will need to confirm all of this."

"We will," Darryl said as he looked at Lucy.

She smiled at him, and then turned back to Gage, a plan forming in her head. "I think Gage wants to buy a new identity."

"Me?" Gage asked.

"Gage?" Sydney scoffed and smiled when Gage turned his head and shot her a look.

"Of course." Lucy nodded her head and then turned to the two older Rangers. "I'm sure you guys know someone who might be able to set up a meet."

The two Rangers looked at one another and smiled. "Yeah, we may know someone."